Zimbabwean police seize radios in run-up to elections

Nairobi, February 28,
2013--Zimbabwean authorities' seizure of hand-cranked and solar-powered radios distributed by nongovernmental
organizations prevents local citizens from accessing diverse sources of
information in the run-up to the country's general elections in July, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Innocent Matibiri,
the police deputy commissioner, told
a parliamentary committee on Monday that any individuals involved in the
distribution of the radios would be arrested,
news reports
said. In a press conference on February 19, Charity Charamba, police chief
spokesman, said police had already
confiscated "specially designed radios" from the offices of the Zimbabwe Peace
Project, a local human rights group headed by former journalist Jestina Mukoko, the state-run
daily Heraldreported.
Charamba accused the group of possessing "gadgets that it is
using to promote hate speech against certain political parties," the pro-government
Patriotreported.

NGOs have distributed hand-cranked
and solar-powered radios in Zimbabwe since
2005, but the ruling
Zimbabwean African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)-led government has a pattern of
cracking down on such devices ahead of election cycles, according to local
journalists. The crackdown is a fear tactic used against independent organizations critical of
President Robert Mugabe ahead of the constitutional referendum scheduled in March and the general
elections scheduled for July, the journalists said. In recent weeks, police raids on the
offices of independent NGOs
and political
violence against the opposition have heightened tension,
according to news reports.

"The confiscation of these radios shows to what lengths the Zimbabwean
authorities will go to try to keep their citizens in the dark," said CPJ's
Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita from New York. "Zimbabweans have a
right to a wide variety of information, especially ahead of elections. This ban
must be lifted immediately."

The confiscations havecome under fire from local and
international press freedom and human rights groups. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights association has called the ban illegal and said the confiscation
of radios from the public violates the
right to receive and impart information as guaranteed under the constitution,
according to local news
reports.